WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 317 



ness and misery were depicted on his countenance ; and 

 when I made him advance he sighed as though in pain. 

 Perhaps it was, that by seeing him thus out of his element 

 as it were, that the Count de Biiffon, in his history of the 

 sloth, asks the question — " Why should not some animals 

 be created for misery, since, in the human species, the 

 greatest number of individuals are devoted to pain from 

 the moment of their existence ? " Were the question put 

 to me, I would answer, I cannot conceive that any of them 

 are created for misery. That thousands live in misery 

 there can be. no doubt ; but then, misery has overtaken 

 them in their path through life, and wherever man has 

 come up with them, I should suppose they have seldom 

 escaped from experiencing a certain proportion of misery. 



After fully satisfying myself that it only leads the world 

 into error to describe the sloth while he is on the ground, 

 or in any place except in a tree, I carried the one I had 

 in my possession to his native haunts. As soon as he 

 came in contact with the branch of a tree, all went right 

 with him. I could see as he climbed up into his own 

 country, that he was on the right road to happiness ; and 

 felt persuaded more than ever, that the world has hitherto 

 erred in its conjectures concerning the sloth, on account 

 of naturalists, not having given a description of him when 

 he was in the only position in which he ought to have 

 been described, namely, clinging to the branch of a tree. 



As the appearance of this part of the country bears 

 great resemblance to Cayenne, and is so near to it, I was 

 in hopes to have found the Grande Gobe Mouche of Buffon, 

 and the septicoloured Tangara, both of which were common 

 in Cayenne ; but after many diligent searches, I did not 

 succeed ; nor could I learn from the Indians that they had 

 ever seen those two species of birds in these parts. 



Here I procured the Grosbeak with a rich scarlet 



